Boulder builds on botanical bounty

Boulder Books’ Atlantic botanic collection has ranged from wildflowers and perennials to edible plants and foraging. Now it builds on the series with this handy and attractive tome, “Shrubs and Vines For Atlantic Canada.” It’s full of information and insight and vibrant, often full- and two-page photographs.

The introduction delves into such topics as using shrubs and vines in a garden, garden maintenance and gardens of note in Atlantic Canada.

The text is then divided between shrubs, ericaceous shrubs, conifers and vines.

The closing section includes a plant selector categorized by those “generally selected for their flowers, indexes on plants by both Latin and common names, and there are blank pages reserved for the reader’s own notes.

VARIED NAMES

“Have you ever noticed how different geographical regions have different names for the same plant?” asks author and botanist Todd Boland. “Partridgeberry in Nova Scotia refers to the plant ‘Mitchella repens’; in Newfoundland, that common name refers to an unrelated plant, ‘vaccinium vitis-idaea’ (a blueberry relative), which also goes by the common names lingonberry, rock cranberry, or mountain cranberry. Are you confused yet?”

Though the scientific names “make many gardeners’ eyes glaze over,” he promises they “are not difficult to understand once you get used to them”; in fact many are already in wide use, for example hydrangea.

Shrubs include woody plants and herbaceous plants, while vines “are woody plants whose stem requires support,” and together they “make up the skeleton of the garden, providing structure, defining garden ‘rooms,’ and contributing to privacy and windbreaks.”

Boland paces out this process, making it achievable, even for a novice. “Planning a garden, especially if gardening is new to you, can be a daunting task. As shrubs form the skeleton of a garden, they need to be positioned before you decide on bedding plants and perennials.

“To start, make a sketch of what you would like in your garden. When purchasing a plant, always look at its label: not only does it provide the plant’s scientific name but also its light requirements, hardiness, and overall size. Water requirements, blooming season, and other characteristics may also be included. Such information is essential to planning your garden. Ideally, a garden should be attractive in all seasons; shrubs and vines are the essential components to provide this.”

GOOD GUIDANCE

There is careful, artful guidance as to where and how to plant and nurture these horticultural elements. Atlantic Canada has a spectrum of “hardiness zones” and shrubs and vines are rated accordingly. Within zones, planting location must also be considered, with attention paid to light and various aspects of soil (moisture, ph).

There are recommendations on garden maintenance, watering, deadheading, fertilizing, and mulching.

The section special gardens looks at coastal and wildlife gardens; challenges for the first include wind, salt spray and cooler temperatures, while the vitality of the second is stressed as a refuge from cleared land: “as gardeners, we can help by planting shrubs and vines that benefit wildlife, in particular birds and pollinating insects. The plight of honeybees is well known to most gardeners: all over the world, honeybee populations are diminishing due to a combination of diseases and pandemics. Newfoundland is the last place on earth where honeybees are still fairly healthy.” The gardens of note section is a wishlist itinerary for both rookie and veteran green thumbs.

Entries under shrubs (arranged alphabetically, and by far the largest section) packs in names, descriptions, growing times, tips for cultivation, and cautions of various blights. “Roseof-sharon,” for example, “a native of China, is second to none for its glorious display of late-season flowers.” Japanese kerria — “the genus name honours William Kerr, a gardener in Kew in the early 1800s — does best in part shade, as full sun can bleach its flowers.”

Shrubby cinquefoil in its “wild form has bright yellow buttercup-like flowers but modern cultivators come in white and shades of yellow, orange, pink, and red.”

As for roses, “by far the easiest to grow in Atlantic Canada is rugose row, ‘rosa rugosa’.”

“Ericaceous shrubs” (those preferring acidic conditions) include bog rosemary, bearberry, St. Daboec’s heath, and andromeda (“broad-leaved evergreens with glossy foliage and terminal clusters of nodding, white, urnshaped fragrant flowers”). Again there are instructions on how to best cultivate them: “Rhododendrons need full sun to part shade and acidic, organicrich but well-drained soil. They do not tolerate drought, soggy soil, or salt.”

Conifers — fir, false cypress, juniper — and vines — Dutchman’s pipe, bittersweet, English ivy — are similarly depicted and decoded.

It’s such useful stuff — and delivered in a conversant, discerning and reassuringly oh-yes-you-can! tone.